Medically speaking, shopping addiction is still just considered a behavioral outcropping of certain obsessive-compulsive disorders, according to this New York Times piece. But oniomania - the obsession with purchasing - is getting lots more attention these days as psychiatry wonders whether it qualifies as a disease all its own. And also because of a spike in this behavior: One shrink quoted by the Times notes that for shopaholics, the current landscape of deep discounts and going-out-of-business sales is "like giving matches to a pyromaniac."

So good news, spendy types! You may be able to blame your weak, insane behavior on science, just like the rest of us.